Hidden Beauties
by Constance96
Summary: An incident makes Draco see Hermione in a new light. A story of doubt, hurt, prejudice and forgiveness.


The last place where I wanted to be was the Great Hall, filled with a bunch of wankers looking constipated while an even bigger wanker kept on yelling: _"The three D's! Remember the three D's!"_ especially since I've yet to complete the task that the Dark Lord so graciously and generously placed upon me. _Don't cringe! You're a Malfoy for fuck's sake!_ But alas, I absolutely needed my Apparition License. I was well on my way to failing every other class, but this was necessary regardless of what was to come.

"Destination, Determination and Deliberation. One must be completely determined to reach one's destination, and move without haste, but with deliberation!" our instructor so helpfully provided once again. I could have cheerfully strangled the sod at that moment. There was a Cabinet waiting for me on the 7th floor and I was wasting the so precious time that I wasn't sure I even had.

"Ah, Mister Malfoy! Should we try this again? Remember, Destination, Determination and Deliberation. Off you go!"

Bloody brilliant. All right, maybe I could get this over with as soon as possible and get on with more pressing matters. It all seemed simple enough. Be determinant, move with deliberation towards the destination. What could possibly go wrong? After all, the bloody simpleton did not keep his wits upon himself whilst standing in front of the snake-like face of the Dark Lord. I did. He wasn't branded like cattle, watching the dark mark shimmering on the once perfect alabaster skin..

I rotated. Crack!

The next thing I knew, I couldn't breathe and I felt as if I was squeezed through the tube of my father's cane. Oh, and pain. Yes, that was most definitely pain. The Dark Lord has acquainted me with it repeatedly over the last summer. But unlike the breathlessness and the sense of constriction, the pain wasn't going away. I'd even go as far as to say that it intensified by the second. Realizing that I was still plunged into darkness, I tried opening my eyes. It felt as if I had bricks on my eyelashes. Blurry, everything was blurry.

"Let me through!"

"You're not getting anywhere near close to Draco, you filty.."

"Parkinson, for the love of Merlin, let me pass."

The voices themselves sounded far away and I almost had to strain to hear and make sense of them. But then.. feathers. Those were most assuredly feathers touching me. Either that or flower petals. Was I in a garden? It surely smelled like one. Mmmm… roses, lilies, forget-me-nots? I could even hear some bees in the distance. I must have Apparated a bit farther than I intended.

"Did he splinch himself," the shrieking voice from earlier asked?

"Well, if one would pay attention to the rather large gash in his left arm and the abundance of blood currently soaking up his shirt, one would assume so, yes" a melodic voice replied, with a thick undercurrent of sarcasm that even I, still unsure weather it was all a dream or not, could deduce. "Now, if you'd all be so kind as to shut up and let me work, seeing as Malfoy is close to losing his arm." The same lyre-like voice had a commanding tone to it this time.

The buzzing sound was reduced to some low whispers. And here I thought they were bees.

"Vulnera Sanentur. Ferula…" Those must have been spells, but for the life of me I couldn't make sense of them. Was I being cursed? Do people curse in soft, angelic murmurs? Wouldn't be the strangest occurrence. We were at Hogwarts, after all. Or was I? I could still smell roses. I tried opening my eyes.

I… died, I finally decided, taking in the sight before me. Shining caramel eyes, hooded by brows almost knitted together in concentration, a pair of cherry-red lips, the bottom one slightly fuller than the other, moving to form what I could only assume were words and an array of chocolate curls, each livelier than the next were framing the face of the angel. Yes, she was an angel. What other creature could possibly be bathed in the most heavenly light? None from the earth, that was for sure, but then, I had no business being in heaven, or even the Elysian Fields. The contorted, blasphemious mark on my forearm would have certainly made sure I was denied entry at the Pearly Gates.

"Make way! Let me through!" There was some movement behind my beautiful companion. I couldn't care less. As long as she stayed right where she was, everything else could sod itself into oblivion.

"Madam Pomfrey, thank Merlin! I think she cursed Draco!"

"Miss Granger, did you use the binding and replenishing spells?" Another head appeared beside my angel. The face I so began to cherish started to move away, distancing itself from me. No! Don't go! Please, stay..

"Yes, but it's still not quite healed yet."

"Oh, yes, I see. Just spell-work won't do here. He needs the blood replenishing potion. We must get him into the infirmary at once.

Suddenly I felt as if I lost touch with the ground beneath me. Quite literally, in fact. My head started pumping. The pain was getting almost unbearable. I must not have been in heaven after all, then, unless suffering was a regular occurrence in the afterlife, which, truth to be told, I wasn't finding that hard to believe. I closed my eyes again, hoping to relieve some of the pain. The darkness enveloped me in its embrace like an old friend and, not feeling up to the struggle, I succumbed to it, my last thoughts being of roses and lilies.


End file.
